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Red Dawn
| screenplay = | story = Kevin Reynolds | starring = | music = Basil Poledouris | cinematography = Ric Waite | editing = Thom Noble | studio = | distributor = MGM/UA Entertainment Company | released = | runtime = 114 minutes | country = United States | language = English, Spanish, Russian | budget = $17 million | gross = $38 million }} Red Dawn is a 1984 American war film directed by John Milius, with a screenplay by Kevin Reynolds and Milius. It stars Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Jennifer Grey, Ben Johnson, Harry Dean Stanton, Ron O'Neal, William Smith, and Powers Boothe. It was the first film to be released in the US with a PG-13 rating (under the modified rating system introduced on July 1, 1984). The film is set in an alternate history timeline in which the United States is invaded by the Soviet Union and its Cuban and Nicaraguan allies. However, the onset of World War III is in the background and not fully elaborated. The story follows a group of American high school students who resist the occupation with guerrilla warfare, naming themselves "Wolverines", after their high school mascot. Plot The United States has gradually become strategically isolated after several European nations (except the United Kingdom) withdraw from NATO. At the same time, the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact partners aggressively expand their sphere of influence. In addition, the Ukrainian wheat harvest fails while a communist coup d'etat occurs in Mexico. On a September morning, in the small town of Calumet, Colorado, a local high school teacher pauses when he sees Soviet paratroopers landing in a nearby field. The paratroopers open fire when the teacher confronts them. Pandemonium follows as students flee amid heavy gunfire. In downtown Calumet, Cuban and Soviet troops are trying to impose order after a hasty occupation. Cuban Colonel Bella instructs the KGB to go to a local sporting goods store and obtain the records of the store's gun sales on the ATF's Form 4473, which lists citizens who have purchased firearms. Brothers Jed and Matt Eckert, along with their friends Robert Morris, Danny, Daryl Bates, and Arturo "Aardvark" Mondragon, flee into the wilderness after hastily equipping themselves at the sporting goods store owned by Robert's father. While on the way to the mountains, they run into a Soviet roadblock, but are saved by an attacking U.S. Army UH-1 helicopter gunship. After several weeks in the forest, they sneak back into town; Jed and Matt learn that their father is being held in a re-education camp. They visit the site and speak to him through the fence, and learn that their mother is already dead; Mr. Eckert orders his sons to avenge his inevitable death and that of his wife. The kids visit the Masons and learn that they are behind enemy lines in "occupied America". Robert's father is revealed to have been executed because of the missing inventory from his store. The Masons charge Jed and Matt with taking care of their two granddaughters, Toni and Erica. After killing Soviet soldiers in the woods, the youths begin an armed resistance against the occupation forces, calling themselves "Wolverines", after their high school mascot. The occupation forces initially try reprisal tactics, executing groups of civilians following every Wolverine attack. During one of these mass executions, the fathers of Jed, Matt, and Aardvark are killed. Daryl's father, Mayor Bates, is a collaborator and tries to appease the occupation authorities. Despite the reprisal tactics the occupation forces get nowhere. The Wolverines find a downed American pilot, Lt. Col. Andrew Tanner, who informs them of the current state of the war: several American cities, including Washington, D.C., were destroyed by nuclear strikes; the Strategic Air Command was crippled by Cuban saboteurs; and paratroopers were dropped from fake commercial airliners to seize key positions in preparation for subsequent assaults via Mexico and Alaska. The middle third of the U.S. has been taken over, but American counterattacks have halted Soviet advances along the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River and the lines have stabilized. The only remaining U.S. allies, the UK and People's Republic of China, are militarily crippled. Concerned about nuclear fallout, both sides refrain from the further use of nuclear weapons. Tanner assists the Wolverines in organizing raids against the Soviets. Soon after, in a visit to the front line, Tanner and Aardvark are killed in the crossfire of a tank battle. Daryl is caught by the Soviets after being turned in by his collaborating father. Using threats of torture, KGB officers force Daryl to swallow a tracking device, then release him to rejoin the guerrillas. Spetsnaz are sent into the mountains carrying portable radio triangulation equipment, but are ambushed by the Wolverines. The group trace the source of the signal to Daryl, who confesses and pleads for mercy, but is executed by Robert, along with a captured Soviet soldier. The remaining Wolverines are ambushed by Mi-24 helicopter gunships, and Robert and Toni are killed. Jed and Matt attack the Soviet headquarters in Calumet to distract the troops while Danny and Erica escape. The plan works, but Jed and Matt are mortally wounded. Though Colonel Bella comes across the brothers, he is unable to bring himself to kill them and lets them go. The brothers reach a bench in the park where they spent time as kids, holding each other as they die. Meanwhile, Danny and Erica trek through the Rocky Mountain Wilderness. They reach the frontier of Free America. In the closing scene, a plaque is seen with Partisan Rock in the background. The rock is fenced off and an American flag flies nearby. The plaque reads: Cast * Patrick Swayze as Jed Eckert * C. Thomas Howell as Robert Morris * Lea Thompson as Erica Mason * Charlie Sheen as Matt Eckert * Darren Dalton as Daryl Bates * Jennifer Grey as Toni Mason * Brad Savage as Danny * Doug Toby as Arturo "Aardvark" Mondragon * Powers Boothe as Lt. Col. Andrew "Andy" Tanner, USAF * Ben Johnson as Jack Mason * Harry Dean Stanton as Tom Eckert * Ron O'Neal as Colonel Ernesto Bella * William Smith as Colonel Strelnikov * Vladek Sheybal as General Bratchenko * Frank McRae as Mr. Teasdale * Roy Jenson as Samuel Morris * Pepe Serna as Mr. Mondragón * Lane Smith as Mayor Bates * Judd Omen as Nicaraguan Captain * Radames Pera as Sgt. Stepan Gorsky Production ''Ten Soldiers'' The film was originally called Ten Soldiers and was written by Kevin Reynolds. It was set in the near future as a combined force of Russians and Cubans launched an invasion of the Southwestern US. Ten children take to the hills when their small town is captured and they turn into a skilled and lethal guerrilla band.Bart p 109–110 Producer Barry Beckerman read the script, and, in the words of Peter Bart, "thought it had the potential to become a tough, taut, "art" picture made on a modest budget that could possibly break out to find a wider audience."Bart p 110 He got his father Sidney Beckerman to help him pay a $5,000 option. Reynolds wanted to direct but the Beckermans wanted someone more established. Walter Hill briefly considered the script before turning it down. So too did other directors. The Beckermans pitched the project to David Begelman when he was MGM and were turned down. They tried again at that studio when it was being run by Frank Yablans. Senior vice-president for production, Peter Bart, who remembers it as a "sharply written anti-war movie ... a sort of Lord of the Flies". He took the project to the head of the studio, Frank Yablans. The script's chances of being filmed increased when Kevin Reynolds became mentored by Steven Spielberg who helped him make Fandango. MGM bought the script. John Milius Bart recalls that things changed when "the chieftains at MGM got a better idea. Instead of making a poignant little antiwar movie, why not make a teen Rambo and turn the project over to John Milius, a genial and rotund filmmaker who loved war movies and also loved war? The idea was especially popular with a member of the MGM board of directors, General Alexander Haig, the former Nixon chief of staff, who yearned to supervise the film personally and develop a movie career." Bart says most of MGM's executives were opposed to Milius directing, except for Yablans. Bart claims he made a last minute attempt to get Reynolds to direct the film and went to see Spielberg. However by this stage Fandango was in rough cut stage and Bart sensed that Spielberg was disappointed in the film and would not speak up for Reynolds.Bart p 111 Milius was signed to direct at a fee of $1.25 million, plus a gun of his choice.Bart p 112 Milius set about rewriting the script. He and Haig devised a backstory by which the circumstances of the invasion would take place; this was reportedly based on Hitler's proposed plans to invade the USA.Bart p 112–113 Haig took Milius under his wing, bringing him to the Hudson Institute, the conservative think tank founded by Herman Kahn, to develop a plausible scenario. Milius saw the story as a Third World liberation struggle in reverse; Haig introduced Nicaragua and suggested that, with the collapse of NATO, a left-wing Mexican regime would participate in the Soviet invasion, effectively splitting the U.S. in half. Bart says "Even Milius was taken aback by Haig's approach to the project. "This is going to end up as a jingoistic, flag-waving movie," Milius fretted. Meanwhile, the Department of Defense flatly refused to extend any cooperation whatsoever. As a result, the budget of this once $6 million movie almost tripled." Some of the other changes included a shift in focus from conflict within the group to conflict between the teens and their oppressors, and the acceleration of the ages of some of the characters from early teens to high school age and beyond. There was also the addition of a sequence where some children visit a camp to find their parents have been brainwashed.Bart p 113 Milius later said "I see this as an anti-war movie in the sense that if both sides could see this, maybe it wouldn't have to happen. I think it would be good for Americans to see what a war would be like. The film isn't even that violent – the war shows none of the horrors that could happen in World War III. In fact, everything that happened in the movie happened in World War Two." Bart says Yablans pushed through filming faster than Milius wanted because MGM needed a movie over summer. Milius wanted more time to plan, including devising futuristic weaponry and to not shoot over winter, but had to accede.Bart p 114 The Pentagon withdrew its co operation from the film.Bart p 133 Casting Milius wanted Robert Blake to play the US pilot but Frank Yablans overruled him. Powers Boothe was selected instead.Bart p 135 Filming The movie was filmed in and around the city of Las Vegas, New Mexico. Many of the buildings and structures which appeared in the film, including a historic Fred Harvey Company hotel adjacent to the train depot, the train yard, and a building near downtown, which was repainted with the name of "Calumet, Colorado", are still there today. An old Safeway grocery store was converted to a sound stage and used for several scenes in the movie. Before starting work on the movie, the cast underwent an intensive eight-week military training course. During that time, production crews designed and built special combat vehicles in Newhall, California. Soldier of Fortune reported that the movie's T-72 tank was such a precise replica that "while it was being carted around Los Angeles, two CIA intelligence officers followed it to the studio and wanted to know where it had come from". Powers Boothe later claimed "Milius cut out the emotional life of its characters. Originally, my character was anti-war, as well as a rightist. I was supposed to be the voice of reason in that movie. But certain cuts negated my character." Lea Thompson says the original cut featured a love scene between her and Powers Boothe but it "was cut out after some previews because of the age difference. And that was the main reason I took the movie–it was such a terrific scene." Some of the weaponry devised for the film did not work. Futuristic helicopters created did not have FAA approval to fly over people.Bart p 134 The budget increased from $11 million to $15 million. It would eventually come in at $19 million.Bart p 228 Reception Box office Red Dawn was the 20th highest-grossing film of 1984, opening on August 10, 1984 in 1,822 theatres and taking in $8,230,381 on its first weekend. But after this start the movie proved to be a box office disappointment. Its box office gross is $38,376,497. Critical reaction Red Dawn received mixed reviews, receiving a score of 46% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 24 reviews. The New York Times reviewer said "to any sniveling lily-livers who suppose that John Milius ... has already reached the pinnacle of movie-making machismo, a warning: Mr. Milius's Red Dawn is more rip-roaring than anything he has done before. Here is Mr. Milius at his most alarming, delivering a rootin'-tootin' scenario for World War III." MGM apologized to Alaska war veterans for the film's advertising, which claimed that no foreign troops had ever landed on US soil, thereby overlooking the Aleutian Islands Campaign. At the time it was released, Red Dawn was considered the most violent film by the Guinness Book of Records and The National Coalition on Television Violence, with a rate of 134 acts of violence per hour, or 2.23 per minute. The DVD Special Edition (2007) includes an on-screen "Carnage Counter" in a nod to this. A few days after the NCTV survey came out, 35 protestors picketed the MGM/UA building in opposition to the film. John Milius said: What these people really don't like is that the movie shows violence being perpetrated against Russian and Cuban invaders, which is what the demonstration was all about. My question is, where were all these demonstrators when the Russians shot down that airliner? Were they cheering? And what about the people being gassed and yellow-rained in Afghanistan? ... There's really no pleasure in outraging these people. I suppose next some extreme right wing organisation will give me an award, which is equally ridiculous. Soon after the Gun Owners of America announced that they were honoring Milius for "dramatically depicting the importance in our time of the Second Amendment." Later reputation National Review Online has named the film No. 15 in its list of the "Best Conservative Movies." Adam Arseneau at the website DVD Verdict opined that the film "often feels like a Republican wet dream manifested into a surrealistic Orwellian nightmare". According to Jesse Walker of Reason, }} Libertarian theorist Murray Rothbard argued that the film was "not so much pro-war as it is anti-State." Rothbard gave the film a generally positive review, while expressing some reservations with the story: }} Home media Red Dawn has been variously released across a variety of formats. * 1985: Red Dawn released on VHS. It was also released at the same time on PAL and Betamax. * 1985: The first Laserdisc release. The film would be released several times on this format, with the latest in April 1994. * 1998: First DVD release.https://www.bestbuy.com/site/red-dawn-dvd-1984/3311115.p?skuId=3311115 * In 2007 a two-disc DVD Collector's Edition was released. Unusual among the "extras" are interviews of residents recalling the filming of the movie. * In 2015, a DVD release featured Red Dawn with the 2012 remake. Another release the same year excluded the remake. * In 2017, the Collector's Edition was released on Blu-ray. References in the film The movie being shown to American prisoners at the re-education camp is Sergei Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky (1938). Much of the story is set in the Arapaho National Forest, and a group of Soviet soldiers refer to the Colorado War, which was fought there between the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes and the US government. Music The film's score was composed and conducted by Basil Poledouris; it was the first soundtrack album to be released (on LP and compact disc) by Intrada Records. The label issued the complete score in 2007. Operation Red Dawn The operation to capture former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was named Operation Red Dawn and its targets were dubbed "Wolverine 1" and "Wolverine 2". Army Captain Geoffrey McMurray, who named the mission, said the naming "was so fitting because it was a patriotic, pro-American movie." Milius approved of the naming: "I was deeply flattered and honored. It's nice to have a lasting legacy." Cultural influence Red Dawn has been referenced by and influenced a number of other mediums including music, film, and video games. Film and television * Numerous references occur in the movie Hot Tub Time Machine, including the movie playing in the Ski Patrol station and being watched by Blaine, who considers it one of the best movies of all time. * "Grey Dawn" is a South Park episode which parodies Red Dawn where the old people of the town, fed up with how they are treated, take over the quiet Colorado town. * SEAL Team is 2017 American military drama series that follows an elite team of the United States Navy Seals. In one episode the team must rescue a Russian scientist and his wife and bring them across the Chinese border into Afghanistan as Russian Special Forces pursue them. The SEAL Team successfully evades them and crosses into Afghanistan, at which point one of the SEAL's raises his weapon and yells "Wolverines!" to his pursuers, a reference to an iconic scene from the movie. The SEAL also states "don't tell me y'all never seen Red Dawn before." *"The Bite" is a Stranger Things episode, during which Dustin explains to the rest of the party that the Russians are using Starcourt as a front. He says that the situation is "full Red Dawn." Music Several musical acts have used the name "Red Dawn", including: * Rock musician David Rosenthal (musician) assembled prog rock group Red Dawn in 1992 with drummer Chuck Burgi and bassist Greg Smith. Video games Red Dawn has influenced a number of video games. * Freedom Fighters is a 2003 video game that takes place during a Soviet invasion of New York. This game is based heavily on Red Dawn in terms of characters, costumes and design, and the last mission closely resembles one of the final scenes when the Wolverines attack the Soviet base. * The plot of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 includes an invasion of the United States by an ultra-nationalist Russia, where members of the United States Army's 75th Ranger Regiment have to repel the attack. The achievement "Red Dawn" is awarded for completing the American "Wolverines!" and "Exodus" missions in Veteran difficulty. "Wolverines!" itself is a reference to the movie. * Homefront, is a video game by Red Dawn's writer John Milius, about a North Korean invasion of America and borrows heavily from the movie. One notable "easter egg" relating to the film is a large billboard at a school sport stadium which reads "Go Wolverines!!!". In turn, the plot of the 2012 remake of Red Dawn borrows heavily from Homefront, including the use of a united Korean threat, the use of rural and suburban settings for the primary action, and partisan warfare. Remake The remake takes place in a slightly altered version of the modern day (c. 2012), with North Korea invading the United States. Milius did not like the remake, and criticised it as "terrible" after reading an original script where the villains were Chinese. There was a strange feeling to the whole thing. They were fans of the movie so they put in stuff they thought was neat. It's all about neat action scenes, and has nothing to do with story. ... There's only one example in 4,000 years of Chinese territorial adventurism, and that was in 1979, when they invaded Vietnam, and to put it mildly they got their butts handed to them ... Why would China want us? They sell us stuff. We're a market. I would have done it about Mexico. See also * Culture during the Cold War * World War III in popular culture References Notes * External links * * * * * * * Original script "Ten Soldiers" by Kevin Reynolds Category:1984 films Category:1980s action films Category:1980s adventure films Category:1980s war films Category:American films Category:American action films Category:American anti-communist propaganda films Category:American coming-of-age films Category:English-language films Category:Cold War films Category:1980s political films Category:War adventure films Category:Film scores by Basil Poledouris Category:Films directed by John Milius Category:Films with screenplays by John Milius Category:Films set in Colorado Category:Films set in 1989 Category:Films shot in New Mexico Category:Films about the United States Air Force Category:United Artists films Category:World War III speculative fiction Category:Invasions in fiction Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films